


More Time

by crystalcore



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 12:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17960615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalcore/pseuds/crystalcore
Summary: Time. Was that the reason why he too would find the most imaginative ploys and plans for still staying by her side even during those kinds of trips? To accompany her and to spend as much time with her as he could? She wanted to ask him, and ask him right away.





	More Time

Mitsuru slightly winced as she heard the electronic lock of the small entrance door react to the reading of a card, the right one. The door opened slowly. The girl jumped out of the bed and stood tall, leaving the comfortable and warm nest she had created a while ago to move silently towards the entrance, to take a look.

“Ah, you’re back already.”

“It wasn’t too hard to find an open shop,” Akihiko smiled, closing the door behind him, “Not even at this hour of the night.”

The hotel room was pretty spacious. Mitsuru wouldn’t have desired anything less, not even for a business trip, where pleasure and fun did always take a second place of importance. If it wasn’t usually those who invited her to provide Mitsuru for her lodging during the pre-established period of time abroad, then she’d have cared about it, her own way. She preferred it, honestly. And much of her attention would often lay on her accommodation, more than anything else.

Paris.  
Both of them had already been there before, while for different reasons. Akihiko might have traveled more than her, but Mitsuru herself would have rarely disdained meetings, although long and boring sometimes, with other businessmen and masters of enterprise management if it meant to visit new places - different cities had something fascinating to it, with their new art, places, details and people to see.

Mitsuru shook her head before he could come closer to her.

“Shouldn’t you…?”

Akihiko looked confused for a moment, with his plastic bag in hand and the white hair around his forehead quite disheveled, perhaps due to the strong autumn wind outside. Quiet, he arched an eyebrow, questioning what she meant.

“Shouldn’t you… well, close the…” continued Mitsuru, now a bit hesitant and perplexed whether or not he was understanding her.

Before she could finish her sentence though, Akihiko’s eyes got suddenly bigger; he turned around and returned quickly at the door, murmuring something to himself. The girl was happy to see him handle the internal lock, making sure it was close and secure.

She thanked him with an embarrassed whisper.

“No problem.”

“You’ll think I’m paranoid.”

“I know you aren’t, you are not.” Akihiko chuckled. He knew her far too well to call her something like that. Thus, her displeased affirmation made him almost laugh.

A lightweight silence then came in, broken only by Akihiko quickly taking off his shoes and by Mitsuru now walking towards him, barefoot, next to him. She noticed that only standing by his side was enough to make her feel slightly cold.

She almost felt shameful, for having made him exit the hotel and go outside at that indecent hour. On the other hand, he did seem to have nothing against the proposal and had followed her suggestion and left at once.

Once she had helped him getting outside of his coat, Mitsuru got back to Akihiko and quickly brought both her hands on his pale cheeks, infusing a bit of her body heat to his cold skin. Despite the poorly lit environment, she noticed Akihiko was indeed smiling down at her.

“Sure you don’t have a fever? You feel way too hot…” he quickly said, curving a bit of his neck to look better into her eyes.

Mitsuru reassured him with a nod of her head.

It might not have been one hundred percent true. Perhaps, checking her temperature now, the girl would have actually found out hers was a bit higher than a normal, healthy one. It was easy to feel it, too. And it wasn’t too irrational to imagine it as well.  
Mitsuru still knew it wouldn’t have been due to a flu virus infecting her.

It could have just been a reaction to the stress the trip had caused her; it had come unannounced, sudden, and the flight had been just too long for comfort. If she was to tell Akihiko that, she knew he wouldn’t have left her alone a moment, nor he would have permitted her to leave the room the next morning too. Which would have meant the trip to France had been a total fiasco and a humiliating waste of time.

As if trying to figure it out if she was telling the truth or not, Akihiko’s eyelids narrowed tremendously, and he started wearing a funny pout on his face. Mitsuru chuckled and left his cheeks. She shook her long red hair, making a few strands fall over her shoulders and chest, on the light nightwear fabric she was wearing.

“Oh, I almost forgot!”

Akihiko walked past her to finally leave his plastic bag on the desk of the room, with the girl following him slowly. Out of it, he produced a smaller paper bag and a plastic bottle. Its content was pale yellow, almost transparent.

Mitsuru quickly grabbed it, getting close to the bed. Since the hotel room was located on one of the highest levels of the building (it was a suite, of course) she couldn’t really make use of the street lights to read what the bottle actually contained. The nightstand light she left one was her momentary only hope.

“Citrus drink?”

Akihiko on his hand grabbed the paper bag colored of a light shade of brown, and replied to her: “Yeah, I thought it’d have made you feel better.”

Mitsuru sighed quietly, opening the bottle and tasting its liquid.

“I told you…” she repeated, “I feel bad, but for different reasons, not cold or…”

Akihiko stood still, but wearing a little smirk on his face: “I know. In fact, I don’t think it’d be too good, for an ill person, to eat… _this_.”

Once he had brought her attention elsewhere, she had to admit it. It was true. There was something else there. A scent, one way more inviting than ginger and citrus fruits caught her attention. She quickly made it back to the desk, next to him. She gave him a knowing glance, before the paper bag content was revealed.

“I can’t believe it…” smiled Mitsuru, gently shocking his arm in a mix of excitement and eagerness. “Wait, wait… wait, you should get yourself comfortable first. I can’t think of eating this. in these clothes, right in front of you now… I’ll wait, we’ll wait, go now.”

 

  
A bunch of minutes later, both Akihiko and Mitsuru found themselves sitting one right next to the other, in front of the big window glass of the room, still with little to no sources of light around them. She had initially thought of grabbing a couple of chairs, for comfort. Yet anyway, they had ended up grabbing extra sheets and pillows and had sat on them, on the now much comfortable and softer floor. It might have looked pretty childish as a set up, but it was the only way they could eat together and stay as close as ever at the same time, one's shoulders continuously brushing with the other’s.

So close that they wouldn’t have had difficulties listening to the other’s breaths and its pace.

A bit sorry for making that mess of the sheets, while careful not to get them dirty, Mitsuru had to admit the sensation of the late night snack was unique.

“Though I asked for something small…”

“And sweet. I knew you’d have appreciated this. You need energy for tomorrow’s conference and I wanted to try it too. That is why I bought two. As for the drink, that was my idea.” Akihiko admitted lightly, finishing up his treat and brushing off some crumbs from his shirt and sheets. “I didn’t know I’d have found a patisserie open at… what time was it? Almost four in the morning? I was their very first customer of the day!”

Mitsuru looked at him with a shade of admiration. She probably wouldn’t have found the will to get out that late on a seemingly impossible mission. _But he was right, as usual._

Their two croissants had been simple, with no filling, no garnishments. But they had arrived when still hot, so good, so tasty. As for the beverage, they had to admit its taste was pretty pungent in taste, almost too sour, but at the same time way more healthy than any desserts or sweets.

“I guess this counts as breakfast too.” sighed Mitsuru, not wanting to even dare to look at the display of her cellphone, for the time.

“I just hope this won’t make you feel even worse in the morning… I hope so.” repeated Akihiko again, drinking a bit.

He was of the opinion that sweets wouldn’t have made a sick person feel any better, for that was what Shinjiro also used to say to him back in the days. If Miki or him, as children, happened to not feel too well, were sick or ill due to cold or stomach ache, then Shinjiro would have done anything in his power to make the young siblings stay away from all kinds of junk food, chocolate, sweets and candies.

It might have been a sort of habit Akihiko could have involuntarily inherited. Or maybe he was just apprehensive whenever Mitsuru would not feel too good.

Mitsuru gently arched her back, leaning forward; then, she crossed her legs in a much more comfortable position. With both of her free hands, now, she hugged delicately of her lower abdomen, avoiding his glance. She remained in that position for a while, completely lost in thoughts and silent. It took her a while to finally reply.

“I told you. It’ll pass, as always.”

Akihiko smiled bitterly at that.

Relaxed he had now fully understood, Mitsuru turned her head to softly lean again, but now on his shoulders. With surprise, she found how smaller her frame would look like, to a bystander, in that position, when against Akihiko.

“And then…” Mitsuru continued, now a bit amused, “... these happen to be the best circumstances in which I can afford to have one more treat, or a bigger piece of chocolate than usual. Old habits, they say, die hard. Thank you, still, for having listened to me… it was such a trivial and stupid request, I was actually joking. You took it as a mission...”

Akihiko seemed to relax as well. She could understand by the way he had shifted his weight on a hand propping him up, on his side, or by the way he was now breathing. His job had sure hardened him a bit - from posture to discipline, more than ever; so she eagerly waited for the little moments in which she could see his rigidity disappear.

Akihiko’s hand started playing delicately with Mitsuru’s curls, with his hands moving around her back.

Quietly, Mitsuru closed both of her eyes at the pleasant sensation, to then reopen them and find, as the first thing she saw, her still left hand, its little ring around one of the long fingers.

None of them knew how much time they spent like that.

“Isn’t it strange to think we haven’t really thought of a ho--”

“No!” Mitsuru warned him, interrupting him, “Do not say that. Because I know you can’t stand anything like that, we both can’t. You bring it up... still...”

“And who said that?”

“You know it's true…”

Akihiko laughed lightly at her too, making her head shaking together with his breath. _She was right, as usual._

“Well, we were clear on one thing: that we wouldn’t have been your common, average, every-day little married couple anyway.”

“You make it sound like it’s been years ago since then, Mitsuru.”

Perhaps it did feel like it.

Akihiko kept on playing with her hair, especially with a little strand of red hair tickling his forearm, before actually remembering she had not told lies. So he continued:

“I don’t care much for traditions. Being by your side is enough.”

Mitsuru wouldn’t have actually felt at loss for no honeymoon, actually. The two of them had traveled a lot, both alone and together, in the past few months. For work, or fun, it didn’t matter much. And Akihiko, one way or another, could almost always find a way to unite the two concepts, and accompany Mitsuru and serve as a member of the Group as well. Since he was trained too, he imagined it not be that different from posing as her security escort, while also having fun with her.

“We could use more spare time…” admitted Mitsuru candidly, knowing he would have understood what it meant.

In a family that put on such high pedestals matters as traditions and honor, she felt he was the only person who could understand what she meant and not judge her for it. It had been a miracle the wedding had ever happened to begin with, and thinking back at it was almost painful - while rewarding, for Mitsuru.

The two sure did share the same stubbornness and competitiveness, but found themselves agreeing on pretty much everything. The thought of having him and in knowing of being so important to him was enough for the girl. She felt understood wholly.

“More time. Just for the two of us. I’d only like a day to get longer just for that. No work, no tasks, no Shadows. Don’t you agree?”

“I suppose so.”

The problem was how to get more time.

Mitsuru returned sitting straight, leaving Akihiko’s shoulder. She sensed his hand leaving her hair and fall down her back, indulging a moment on her wait. He was gently hugging her.

She did it too, responding to his touch by letting both her arms slowly encircle his neck.

Time. Was that the reason why he too would find plans and imaginative ploys for staying by her side even during those kinds of trips? To accompany her and to spend as much time with her as he could? She wanted to ask him, ask him right away.

The thought made her unconsciously hug him tighter, now the hug fully turning into a real embrace. She found herself standing on her knees.

The tips of their noses did gently touch, and she admitted he was still as cold as it had seemed like when he had entered the room, just a while ago. With a finger, the girl started gently caressing the back of his neck, causing him to smile. Not even his self-control would have saved him from laughs.

Seeing him that smiling, made Mitsuru feel better than ever. It was but a small tease, hidden by the night’s shadows.

“We can… still think more about it.” Mitsuru whispered, trying not to giggle too.

Her lips did still hold the scent of fresh butter from the croissant, so small and so sweet, darker, even without any lipstick, of different shades of pink. Strangely attractive, now more than ever, even in the utter dark of the starry, distant sky.

They invited him to a long kiss, a siren call he could not resist.

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt with these characters and couple.  
> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
